Early marriages are most often registered in Talas, Naryn and Chui regions. Such data were obtained during a Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS).
According to the report, in the republic, about 13 percent of women who are 20-24 years old entered into an official or unregistered marriage up to 18 years old. This indicator reached 18 percent in Talas region, in Chui and Naryn regions — 17, in Osh — 10 percent, in Bishkek — 6.
Every eleventh girl at the age of 15–19 is currently married. At least 2.7 percent of the married teenagers at this age have a partner who is 10 years or more older.
«In many parts of the world, parents encourage their daughters to marry in childhood in the hope that it will provide them with financial and social well-being, as well as remove the financial burden from the family. In fact, marriage in childhood is a violation of human rights; it threatens the development of girls, often leads to early pregnancy and social exclusion, inadequate education and poor professional training. And it increases the gender nature of poverty,» the UNICEF report says.
The survey covered more than 7,000 households in all regions of Kyrgyzstan, and field studies were conducted in September — November 2018. The MICS was conducted by the National Statistical Committee with technical support from UNICEF.
